Some Explosive Wednesday Trivia!

Wednesday saw another new venue join the Pour House Trivia crew: Mayta’s Peruvian Cuisine in Frederick, MD with a game run by Elizabeth! In all, 201 teams played across 21 locations, which included a 24-team showdown at Idiom Brewing in Frederick, MD.

FIRST ROUND:

The only speed bump in an otherwise successfully-played first round was on the bonus section of this question:

• Currently made up of a singular video screen divided into 52 parts, the puzzle board for which TV game show made the transition from analog to digital on February 24, 1997?

Celebrating its 40th year of syndication, that game show is Wheel of Fortune. That wasn’t a problem, but naming its original host was; just 13% of teams earned bonus points for knowing Chuck Woolery first hosted the show. Other subjects covered in this round included the freshwater supply of Antarctica and Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh’s Super Bowl wins with the San Francisco 49ers. In all, 12 teams were perfect in this round.

SECOND ROUND:

The second round on Wednesday was one to cruise through. We began with foreign language covers of popular hits December, 1963 (Oh What a Night) by the Four Seasons, Everybody Hurts by REM, and Lady Gaga’s The Edge of Glory. Midway through the round, we gave a little dose of U.S. geography:

• Among U.S. cities whose names begin with the letter A, which three cities are each the most populous city in their respective home states?

Teams had no trouble naming at least two of Atlanta, Anchorage, and Albuquerque. Otherwise, teams tackled questions about the thoracic diaphragm, recent Tom Hanks film A Man Called Otto, and British kings named George and Edward who reigned in the past 175 years. Almost a fifth of the field had perfect scores in this round; 37 teams earned all 36 points each.

HALFTIME:

The halftime page on Wednesday dealt with famous pop culture doctors such as Doctor Strange and Dr. Mario, followed by a section in which you had to match Olympic cities to the specific years they hosted the Games. Only five teams notched a perfect 20-point page, while the average score was down to 14.7 points. One team snuck just ahead of the others in the halftime top five:

• The Legend of Taylor Heinicke (Axes and O’s): 91
• Comfortably Dumb (Axes and O’s): 90
• Stink Floyd (Belles’): 90
• Black October (Grape Escape): 90
• Pterodactyl (Grape Escape): 90

THIRD ROUND:

Wednesday’s second half began with a question about the interracial kiss between William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols on Star Trek in 1968, followed by a query regarding the hexagonal shape of Kellogg’s Crispix cereal. A couple of tough bonus chances followed, starting with this Three Clues question about a certain woman:

• This woman has been portrayed on screen by Verna Bloom, Maia Morganstern, and Roma Downey.
• Though her name is given an Arabic spelling, she is the only female mentioned by name in the Qur’an.
• Her name is often mentioned during the last seconds of a football game.

Only 13% of the field named the Virgin Mary (or Maryam) before the final clue, with those teams picking up two bonus points for doing so. We flexed our artistic muscle with the final question of the round:

• The 16^th century painter born with the real name of Tiziano Vecelli is better known by which pseudonym?

This one came with a crossword clue after a minute (it’s a six-letter name and the third letter is T). While 12% of teams named Titian before that extra clue, the question had just a 27% success rate overall. Perfect third rounds were recorded by nine teams.

FOURTH ROUND:

A 6-4-2 about cream cheese saw 24 teams know it from its use in the Seattle-style hot dog to get the full six-point boost. The last round on Wednesday covered topics such as the Teapot Dome scandal during the Warren G. Harding administration, the southern Atlantic’s Falkland Islands, and Paramore‘s return to the Billboard chart with the album This is Why. We waited until the very end of the round to hit our players with the night’s most difficult question:

• Known by a different name today, this American League franchise was founded in 1901 and won its first World Series in 1924. In a Broadway musical from 1955, Joe Boyd sells his soul to the devil, so this team can finally win the pennant. What is the original name of this franchise?

Joe Boyd in Damn Yankees went to extreme lengths in support of his favorite team, the Washington Senators, a correct answer given by about one out of every eight teams. The original Senators franchise is now known as the Minnesota Twins, which play at Target Field; just under 5% of teams added that answer for bonus credit. Standings before the final question found one team at least five points up on everyone else:

• Billy Crystal Balls (Quinn’s): 166
• True Guru (Sully’s): 161
• Tokyo Sex Whale (Idiom): 160
• Stink Floyd (Belles’): 160
• Donner Party Platter (Quinn’s): 160
• Quick Pink and the Vine Gang (Belles’): 160

FINAL QUESTION (38.81% success rate):

• In what city would you find the Europa Hotel, which earned the moniker of the most bombed hotel in the world after suffering 36 bomb attacks between 1971 and 1998?

The Europa Hotel is found in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Once again, Stink Floyd (Belles’) aced the game to get the Perfect 21, the only team to do so on Wednesday. At the end of the night, these were the overall point leaders:

• Billy Crystal Balls (Quinn’s): 173
• Stink Floyd (Belles’): 172
• Tokyo Sex Whale (Idiom): 168
• I Don’t Know (Sully’s): 167
• Sexual Chocolate (Memories): 166
• Titanic Was an Inside Job (Hops N Shine): 166
• Fresh Off the U-Haul (Mark’s): 165
• Donner Party Platter (Quinn’s): 165
• Wednesday Warriors (Grape Escape): 164
• Bob Dole’s Grip (Idiom): 163
• Win Some, Learn Some (Thick-N-Thin): 163

WEDNESDAY’S WINNERS:

Belles’ Sports Bar in Frederick, MD: Stink Floyd  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Everything Everywhere All at Once)

Memories Charcoal House in Mount Airy, MD: Sexual Chocolate  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: WWE Factions)

Quinn’s on the Corner in Arlington, VA: Billy Crystal Balls  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Demon Slayer)

GearHouse Brewing in Chambersburg, PA: Peeping Tom Cruises  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: NFL Scouting Combine)

TGI Fridays in Hagerstown, MD: What the Fork  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Hippopotamuses)

Idiom Brewing in Frederick, MD: Tokyo Sex Whale  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Creed (audio))

Axes and O’s in Sterling, VA: Lindsay and the Boys  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Heroes of the Storm)

Hops N Shine in Alexandria, VA: I Don’t Know  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Psych)

Sully’s Pour House in Herndon, VA: True Guru  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Fifth-Generation Pokemon)

T.J. Stone’s in Alexandria, VA: Washington Trivia Team  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Former Countries)

Craftworx Taproom in Gainesville, VA: Just Some Dudes  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Soviet Leaders)

Barstool Sportsbook in Charles Town, WV: Jones Springs Hooligans  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The Rocky Horror Picture Show)

Grape Escape in Gaithersburg, MD: Wednesday Warriors  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Welsh Corgis)

Shipgarten in McLean, VA: Bobs the Builders  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Butterflies)

Thick-N-Thin Brewing in Hagerstown, MD: Win Some, Learn Some  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: 1923 (TV show))

Kitzie’s Restaurant in Martinsburg, WV: Damn, Gina  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Triple 50/50: Maryland or West Virginia?)

Rough Edges Brewing in Waynesboro, PA: Deez Nuts  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Jane Austen)

Mayta’s Peruvian Cuisine in Frederick, MD: Cat Dog  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: 1990s Rap)

Celtic House in Arlington, VA: Ummm  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Irish History)

Mark’s Pub in Falls Church, VA: Fresh Off the U-Haul  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: 1985 SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament)

Augie’s Mussel House in Alexandria, VA: Couple  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Formula One Racing)